When Your Day Job Isn’t Behind the Lens

I’ve noticed something fascinating happening lately in professional sports: the athletes we typically photograph are now picking up cameras themselves. Last night, basketball sensation Caitlin Clark did exactly that, positioning herself courtside at an NBA game not as a player, but as a photographer capturing the action.

This trend got me thinking about what it means for our creative workflows and the democratization of professional-level photography.

The Accessibility Question

What strikes me most about athletes venturing into photography is how it highlights the tools we have available today. Twenty years ago, capturing game-day action at a professional level required thousands of dollars in gear, extensive training, and industry connections. Now? A talented person with a modern camera and some foundational knowledge can produce compelling images.

That democratization extends to our post-processing world too. With the right Photoshop actions and presets, someone like Clark can streamline their editing workflow significantly—taking dozens of courtside shots and processing them efficiently without needing to be a Photoshop expert.

The Workflow Lesson Here

What I find myself returning to is this: the best creative workflows aren’t necessarily the most complex ones. They’re the ones that remove friction between capturing an image and sharing it. When you’re shooting fast-paced sports, you don’t have time to wrestle with intricate editing procedures.

This is precisely why action-based workflows matter. A good sports photography preset—one that handles exposure correction, contrast balancing, and color grading automatically—becomes invaluable. You apply it, make micro-adjustments if needed, and move on to the next image. That’s efficiency.

Technical Crossover Benefits Everyone

I genuinely get excited about seeing professionals from different fields approach photography because they often bring fresh perspectives to technical challenges. An athlete understands lighting, positioning, and timing in ways that directly translate to photography. They’re already thinking about composition instinctively.

The reverse is also true: photographers who understand how their tools work—really understand them, not just point-and-shoot—develop stronger creative instincts across all their work.

Looking Forward

Stories like this remind me why I’m passionate about optimizing our creative processes. The barrier to entry for quality photography keeps lowering, which means the real differentiator becomes workflow efficiency and creative vision.

Whether you’re a seasoned sports photographer or an athlete experimenting with a camera for the first time, the right technical foundation—including smart use of presets and actions—can meaningfully accelerate your creative output.

That’s the real story here.